Belarus drew UN Human Rights Council’s attention to systemic racism rooted in the West

Mass manifestations of xenophobia and discrimination, the encouragement of intolerance, the growth of hatred and the deepening stratification of society have become stable characteristics of the so-called mature Western democracies. Ultra-right views are gaining more and more support and spread in ‘prosperous’ Western countries, because the systemic racism that is rooted in Western society is fought only on paper – as noted by Belarusian diplomat Maksim Sapsai during the general debate on racism, xenophobia and related forms of discrimination, held during the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council.

“Separate national and religious minorities, migrants, as well as those who hold views that differ from the official position of the ruling elites are subjected to discrimination and aggression. In these allegedly advanced societies, speakers of other cultures and languages often become victims of the ‘culture of cancellation’ and segregation, including under the pretext of fighting external threats,” the Belarusian representative stressed.

The Belarusian diplomat’s speech also included specific illustrations of such manifestations, “It turns out that this is ‘normal’: to divide migrants into good and bad, depending on nationality, to call the language – native to several hundred million people – ‘enemy’ and to force it out of public life, threatening those who continue using it to lose their rights, to ban writers and composers who have made a brilliant contribution to world culture, to destroy books and monuments,” Maksim Sapsai underlined.

He recalled that history knows examples of similar policies that became harbingers of fascism, “It is high time for the preachers of ‘democracies’ of the Western type to attend to their own problems, and not to divert attention by attacks on the states, the development of which they seek to block by all means, including the use of illegal sanctions.”